Wesberry v. Sanders’s Empirical Analysis
1964
Citation profile
374 federal appellate · 259 district · 381 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,042 later decisions (153 by the Supreme Court) — most recently October 2024 · most notably Griswold v. State of Connecticut (1965), Reynolds v. Sims (1964)
374 federal appellate · 259 district · 381 state decisions — followed in 39 states
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1343 · 2 U.S.C. § 2A · 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))
Relies on Baker v. Carr · Rochin v. People of California · William Marbury v. James Madison · United States v. Classic · Gibbons v. Ogden
Cited together with Reynolds v. Sims · Baker v. Carr · Gray v. Sanders · Williams v. Rhodes · Anderson v. Celebrezze
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 2,042 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“No right is more precious in a free country than that of having a voice in the election of those who make the laws under which, as good citizens, we must live. Other rights, even the most basic, are illusory if the right to vote is undermined.”
117 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[t]he history of the Constitution, particularly that part of it relating to the adoption of Art. I, Sec. 2, reveals that those who framed the Constitution meant that, no matter what the mechanics of an election, whether statewide or by districts, it was population which was to be the basis of the House of Representatives,”
46 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“draw the lines of congressional districts in such a way as to give some voters a greater voice in choosing a Congressman than others.”
11 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.